Labour and the municipality : Labour politics in Leeds 1900-1914

Abstract

This thesis examines the emergence of the Labour Party in Leeds, fromits establishment as the Leeds Labour Representation Committee in 1902up to the outbreak of the First World War. This will include a descriptionand analysis of the very different political features of the Labour Party inLeeds in the parliamentary and municipal elections in this period.

While only able to have elected one member of parliament before 1914,the Labour Party was to obtain a presence on the City Council in 1903and by 1914 became the second largest party.

The success of the Labour Party in municipal politics was due to thewillingness of most trade unions in Leeds to join with the IndependentLabour Party in giving it political and financial support. This wasachieved by the Party's advocacy of municipal government as a vehicle ofsocial reform. In particular, they argued in favour of using the tradingprofits of municipally owned services for the financing of these reforms.

A powerful voice in the Leeds Labour Party was provided by the unionsorganising municipal workers. As a result, the Labour group was to actas their defenders on the City Council in the face of a hostileConservative-Liberal majority. However, the Party in Leeds was toestablish a broad base of support from the trade union and socialistmovements in the city, which enabled it to survive relatively unscathedthe defeat of a general strike of municipal workers in 1913 and 1914.